South Dakota inmate Daniel Charles came up before the South Dakota Supreme Court on Tuesday, Jan. 10. Charles' attorney asked for reconsideration of his 92-year prison sentence. Charles was 14 when he killed his stepfather in Meade County. He's now 32. He'll be 60 before he comes up for parole. His attorney argues that parole at retirement age doesn't allow Charles to have a meaningful life on the outside. SDPB's Victoria Wicks reports.

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Prison inmates who committed murder while juveniles have a chance to escape their mandatory sentence of life without possibility of parole. The U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision this week that Miller v. Alabama is retroactive, and so inmates convicted before that 2012 decision can now ask for a reduced sentence. Justices say states can offer parole eligibility to the affected inmates and avoid a new trial or sentence hearing. In South Dakota, only one inmate, Paul Dean Jensen, is affected.

A state prison inmate convicted of second-degree murder while he was still a juvenile is appealing his case to the South Dakota Supreme Court. Oral arguments, first scheduled to be heard in December, have been continued to Jan. 13.

On the murder conviction, Braiden McCahren was sentenced about a year ago to 25 years, with 15 suspended. If he had been convicted of the same charge prior to 2012, he would have faced a mandatory life sentence without possibility of parole.

A prison inmate serving life who was a juvenile when she committed murder in 1998 received a lighter sentence YESTERDAY/TUESDAY in Codington County. Jessi Owens, formerly of Watertown and now residing in the state women’s prison in Pierre, has been re-sentenced to a term of 40 years.

Twenty years after committing murder, South Dakota penitentiary inmate Paul Dean Jensen has been given a reduced sentence. Sixth Circuit Presiding Judge John L. Brown heard testimony for two full days, June 2-3, before setting the new sentence at 200 years. Jensen, just 14 at the time of the crime, had an extensive juvenile history, but supporters say he's found religion behind bars.

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